The second half of the Saturday double header in the Indian Premier League sees the competition go back to the iconic Eden Gardens for the second time in the campaign when the Kolkata Knight Riders host the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Kolkata have a win and a defeat from their two matches so far while the Sunrisers have won both of their matches and will be looking to kick on from here. The fact both have won a match should see us entertained nicely.
Kolkata Knight Riders
To be fair to the Kolkata Knight Riders they really should have won both matches but an insanely good innings by Sam Billings denied them in Chennai last time out. In saying that they probably got a load more runs than they should have got thanks to a monster innings from Andre Russell so maybe it was a fair result.
One area of concern for Kolkata is going to be their bowling attack. On paper there are no concerns but Jacques Kallis needs to have a chat to Dinesh Karthik about how best to utilise his options because they have conceded more than 170 in both of their outings and even at this IPL you’re not going to win many games like that.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
There could hardly have been two more different matches than the ones the Sunrisers Hyderabad have played in this tournament. They absolutely dominated their first game against the Delhi Daredevils although in truth the form of that hasn’t exactly been franked and then they absolutely crawled over the line against the Mumbai Indians last time out.
I did have a concern over their batting depth when the tournament began and whether the way they almost threw the match against Mumbai away was because of rustiness or players not being able to handle the pressure remains to be seen but it did not look good. The one positive from both matches has been how well they have bowled.
Team News
Kolkata Knight Riders are likely to bring Mitchell Johnson back into their ranks with Tom Curran most likely to make way in what is probably going to be an unchanged side apart from that one switch.
It remains to be seen whether Bhuvneshwar Kumar has recovered from the back niggle which forced him out of the first match. If he has he will come back in but if not there is probably no reason for the Sunrisers to change.
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Betting
This isn’t the easiest match to bet on in many ways. My gut instinct is that the Sunrisers Hyderabad are the good things in this one but their record in Kolkata doesn’t inspire me and the way they almost chucked away their last match doesn’t do much more for me I must admit. I’m not sure I would want to be on Kolkata at a short price given the runs they are leaking either so I’ll head for a player market for a punt.
Robin Uthappa has hit a six in both his matches so far and actually in the defeat to Chennai in midweek he was timing the ball brilliantly and not just hitting the ball for six but sending it miles into the stand. Uthappa belted four sixes in an innings of 68 when these two met on this ground last year so the 10/11 he clears the ropes at least once in this one looks appealing enough.
Tips
Back R.Uthappa – Over 0.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Ladbrokes
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